No she's not

Let's get the tiresome business over in one sentence: Reports that J.K. Rowling has been spotted in Scottish cafes writing a detective novel are erroneous.

If you're into celebrity nonsense, you can click on "continue" to read one of the original stories, followed by one of the stories setting things straight.

ONE OF THE ORIGINAL STORIES
The Associated Press

August 19, 2007 Sunday 12:44 AM GMT

Report: 'Harry Potter' author working on Scottish crime novel

BYLINE: By DAVID STRINGER, Associated Press Writer

SECTION: ENTERTAINMENT NEWS

LENGTH: 229 words

DATELINE: LONDON

J.K. Rowling has been spotted at cafes in Scotland working on a detective novel, a British newspaper reported Saturday.

The Sunday Times newspaper quoted Ian Rankin, a fellow author and neighbor of Rowling's, as saying the creator of the "Harry Potter" books is turning to crime fiction.

"My wife spotted her writing her Edinburgh criminal detective novel," the newspaper, which was available late Saturday, quoted Rankin as telling a reporter at an Edinburgh literary festival.

"It is great that she has not abandoned writing or Edinburgh cafes," said Rankin, who is known for his own police novels set in the historic Scottish city.

Rowling famously wrote initial drafts of the Potter story in the Scottish city's cafes. Back then, she was a struggling single mother who wrote in cafes to save on the heating bill at home.

Now she's Britain's richest woman worth $1 billion, according to Forbes magazine and her seven Potter books have sold more than 335 million copies worldwide.

In an interview with The Associated Press last month, Rowling said she believed she was unlikely to repeat the success of the Potter series, but confirmed she had plans to work on new books.

"I'll do exactly what I did with Harry I'll write what I really want to write," Rowling said.
The office of Rowling's literary agent, Christopher Little, was not immediately available to comment late Saturday.

ONE OF THE STORIES SETTING THINGS STRAIGHT
Guardian Unlimited

August 20, 2007 Monday

ROWLING'S 'CRIME NOVEL' IS A RED HERRING

LENGTH: 225 words

Speculation that the Edinburgh book festival may have resolved one of the burning questions of modern publishing - what JK Rowling will write next - have been dashed this afternoon, when the Scottish crime writer Ian Rankin diagnosed a case of festival fever.

A report that his wife, Miranda, had seen J.K. Rowling "scribbling away" in an Edinburgh cafe, supposedly hard at work on a detective novel set in the Scottish capital, was dismissed as a classic silly season story when the Guardian contacted him by telephone earlier today.

"This is a joke that got out of hand," said Rankin, describing how the remark was made on stage during the course of a festival event.

"There were 600 people in the audience, and only one person didn't laugh," he added.

Rankin, who announced the title of his latest Inspector Rebus mystery at the festival last week, offered no further clues as to what the creator of Harry Potter might get up to next, despite living in the same Merchiston area of Edinburgh as JK Rowling.

Speculation that the children's author may turn her hand to another fantasy project, a piece of literary fiction or even a biography remains, for the moment, just that - speculation. She has already ruled out a Harry Potter prequel, though the door to an eighth Harry Potter book - perhaps a charity encyclopedia of the Hogwarts world - remains ajar.